Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Resilience Against Emotional Distress: An Integrative Brain-Personality-Symptom Approach Using Structural Equation Modeling.
Abstract
Clarifying individual differences that predict resilience or vulnerability to emotional
distress is crucial for identifying etiological factors contributing to affective
disturbances, and to promoting emotional well-being. Despite recent progress identifying
specific brain regions and personality traits, it remains unclear whether there are
common factors underlying the structural aspects of the brain and the personality
traits that, in turn, protect against symptoms of emotional distress. In the present
study, an integrative structural equation model was developed to examine the associations
among (1) a latent construct of Control, representing the volumes of a system of prefrontal
cortical (PFC) regions including middle, inferior, and orbital frontal cortices; (2)
a latent construct of Resilience personality traits including cognitive reappraisal,
positive affectivity, and optimism; and (3) Anxiety and Depression symptoms, in a
sample of 85 healthy young adults. Results showed that the latent construct of PFC
volumes positively predicted the latent construct of Resilience, which in turn negatively
predicted Anxiety. Mediation analysis confirmed that greater latent PFC volume is
indirectly associated with lower Anxiety symptoms through greater latent trait Resilience.
The model did not show a significant mediation for Depression. These results support
the idea that there are common volumetric and personality factors that help protect
against symptoms of emotional distress. These findings provide strong evidence that
such brain-personality-symptom approaches can provide novel insights with valuable
implications for understanding the interaction of these factors in healthy and clinically
diagnosed individuals.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21880Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1017/pen.2018.11Publication Info
Moore, Matthew; Culpepper, Steven; Phan, K Luan; Strauman, Timothy J; Dolcos, Florin;
& Dolcos, Sanda (2018). Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Resilience Against Emotional Distress: An Integrative
Brain-Personality-Symptom Approach Using Structural Equation Modeling. Personality neuroscience, 1. pp. e8. 10.1017/pen.2018.11. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21880.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Timothy J. Strauman
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Professor Strauman's research focuses on the psychological and neurobiological processes
that enable self-regulation, conceptualized in terms of a cognitive/motivational perspective,
as well as the relation between self-regulation and affect. Particular areas of emphasis
include: (1) conceptualizing self-regulation in terms of brain/behavior motivational
systems; (2) the role of self-regulatory cognitive processes in vulnerability to depression
and other disorders; (3) the impact of tre

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